Free Web NovelChapter 190: Chapter 190: The Temple’s Arrival
Yue Yue’s eyes widened, and she let out a small shriek when she felt his sharp canines graze her shoulder. It wasn’t enough to break the skin, but it was a clear mark of possession. She yelped and turned around in his arms, pouting as she looked at him in the dim light.
"Youuu!" she said, trying to look stern. "Don’t bite me. I can bite harder than you!"
She bared her own small, white teeth at him in a playful threat.
But he didn’t let her finish her sentence. He surged forward, capturing her lips in a fierce, hungry kiss. Yue Yue didn’t hold back; she wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair.
The room soon became filled with the sound of their soft whispers and heavy breathing.
They stayed intimately tangled together under the silken sheets, lost in each other as the hours ticked away.
It was only when the first faint light of dawn began to peek through the curtains that the room finally fell calm.
Yue Yue lay exhausted on his hard chest, her eyes closed. She inhaled the deep, musky scent of him, feeling a sense of absolute peace.
She was so tired that she fell into a deep sleep almost instantly, her head resting right above his heart.
He looked down at her sleeping face, his fingers gently stroking her purple hair. He leaned down and pressed a final, lingering kiss to her forehead.
"Female," he whispered to the silent room, his voice unreadable. "You better stay exactly like this."
He pulled the covers up, tucked her securely into his arms, and finally allowed himself to drift off to sleep beside her.
The deep, exhausted sleep that had claimed Yue Yue after the night’s passion was shattered by a sound that made her blood run cold.
Waaa-ooo! Waaa-ooo!
Her eyes snapped open. The room was bathed in the harsh light of noon.
At first, she thought she was dreaming, but the siren wailed again, louder and more frantic than before. It wasn’t the rhythmic warning of a sand beast. This was a continuous, piercing scream that signaled an existential threat.
"Is the city under attack again?" she whispered to the empty room.
She sat up straight in bed, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked down and realized she was fully dressed in a soft robe, though she didn’t remember putting it on.
As the fabric shifted, she caught sight of herself in the mirror across the room. Her neck and chest were covered in blooming, dark marks...the silent evidence of the night she had shared with Xing Luoguang.
She reached out to the other side of the bed. It was cold. He was gone.
A wave of abandonment washed over her, but it was quickly replaced by terror. Where was he? Did he go because of another sand beast attack?
Before her feet could even touch the cold floor, the heavy doors were slid open. The old caretaker rushed in, her face pale and her breathing labored.
"Lady Yue! The city is under attack!" the woman cried out, her voice trembling. "We must leave immediately. The Prince gave strict orders to take you to the safe zone at once!"
The caretaker’s eyes briefly landed on the marks on Yue Yue’s neck. A small, sad smile touched her lips for a fraction of a second...a recognition of the bond they had sealed...before she quickly pulled a heavy cloak around Yue Yue’s shoulders.
"Hurry, child! You cannot be cold, and we cannot stay here."
She grabbed Yue Yue’s hand and pulled her toward the same underground basement where they had hidden during the sand beast attack.
Yue Yue didn’t resist at first. She knew the drill. She knew how dangerous the desert could be. But as they ran through the corridors, the caretaker’s words made her blood turn to ice.
"Don’t be afraid, Lady," the woman gasped as they ran. "Everything will be fine. Even though the Empire has found us, the Princes will save us. They won’t let anything happen to you."
Yue Yue skidded to a halt, her boots scraping against the floor. Her face turned ghost-white.
"What did you say?" Yue Yue’s voice was barely a whisper. "The Empire? The Empire has found us?"
The old caretaker stopped and looked at her with deep sympathy. She took Yue Yue’s small, shaking hand and pressed it against her own heart.
"Lady Yue Yue, you mustn’t worry. The men from the Temple have arrived. The four empires have surrounded the city from every direction. They want to kill us all, and you as the female of our Princes would be their first hostage. You must be hidden!"
Yue Yue felt her heart drop straight into her stomach. It felt like the floor had vanished beneath her.
The Empire. The Temple.
Suddenly, Xing Luoguang’s final words from the night before echoed in her mind: "Even if we are apart, I will find you." He had known. He had felt the storm coming. He knew the people of the Empire were closing in. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Panic, raw and cold, began to swell in her chest. If the Temple was here, that meant the Phoenix Clan was here. That meant Feng Yanshen was here. And Han Soi.
"No," she breathed. "No, no, no."
The caretaker tried to pull her again, thinking she was just in shock. "Come, Lady! We are almost to the safety of the bunker!"
But Yue Yue wasn’t going to the bunker. She couldn’t. She realized with terrifying clarity that the people she loved were about to tear each other apart.
She knew the deep-seated hatred the Twin Princes felt for the Empires. She knew the traumatic childhood Xing Luoguang had suffered.
And she knew Feng Yanshen, she knew his possessiveness, his pride, and his devastating power. If he found out she had been "kidnapped" and marked by another man, the massacre would be total.
"I can’t run!" Yue Yue screamed, ripping her hand away from the caretaker. "I can’t go to the basement!"
"Lady! Where are you going?" the woman shrieked.
Yue Yue didn’t answer. She turned and ran in the opposite direction, her robes flying behind her. She ran toward the main strategy hall, the place where she knew the brothers would be preparing for the final stand.
Every step felt like a nightmare. The sounds of explosions began to echo from above. The screams of warriors and the clashing of metal filled the air. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps. She was having a full-blown panic attack, her vision blurring at the edges.
I have to stop them, she thought, her mind spinning. I can’t let them kill each other. I can’t let Luoguang or Luoye die. I can’t let Yanshen destroy everything.
She reached the top of the stairs leading to the hall, her heart in her throat. She could see the smoke rising over the city walls. The Empire was here, and the man she had just bound her soul to was standing at the edge of an abyss.
The caretaker’s cries faded behind her as Yue Yue pushed through the final set of doors, her pale face streaked with tears, heading straight into the heart of the war.
